Gear box for wire fabric making machine



Dec. 10, 1957 A. E. BLASHILL GEAR BOX FOR WIRE FABRIC MAKING MACHINEFiled NOV. 3, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet l J- I I INVENTOR. arwsiawz Dec. 10,1957 A. E. BLASHILL GEAR BOX FOR WIRE FABRIC MAKING MACHINE 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 3, 1954 INVENTORJ 41d 6. 6/2! Dec. 10, 1957 A.E. BLASHILL GEAR BOX FOR WIRE FABRIC MAKING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5Filed Nov. 3, 1954 INVENTOR flrxw'r Mi BY Z Y a I a ATTORNEY UnitedStates Patent 1 2,815,674 GEAR BOX FOR WIRE FABRIC MAKING MACHINE-Arthur E. Blashill, Worcester, Mass. Application November 3, 1954,Serial No. 466,647 Claims. (Cl. 74368) This invention relates toimprovements in a machine for manufacturing wire fabric of thechain-link type in which lengths of wire from two sources are wound intozig-zag form upon a flat rotary former bar to form a double helix ofwire which is severed to length and interlaced with successively formedand fed wire helices to form the fabric as this is wound up into coilformation on the machine ready for transfer for shipment. In particular,this invention relates to improvements in the machine for manufacturingchain link fabric as disclosed in my prior U. S. Patent No. 2,202,442,issued May 28, 1940.

In my prior machine the formation of the double wire helices, thesevering of the Wire and the advancing of the successively interlacedhelices through the machine to the wind-up shaft, including theknuckling and/ or barbing of the severed ends of the helices, iscontrolled from a gear box which includes three laterally adjacentshafts, comprising a centrally disposed main drive shaft, actuated froman electric motor, and, on opposite sides of this shaft, asingle-revolution shaft and a shaft carrying the former bar upon whichthe separate double helices of wire are formed and successively fed tocomplete the fabric.

The speed of production of the wire fabric is, inter alia, dependentupon the speed at which the wire helices can be formed on the rotaryformer bar and threaded into interlaced relationship with successivelyformed helices, together with the speed at which the advance feeding ofthe fabric to wind-up, and the various cut-off, knuckling and/or barbingoperations can be performed.

An important object of my present invention is to provide an improvedmachine of the above kind with which the various manufacturingoperations can be speeded up and effected in a shorter cycle comparedwith prior machines, including that disclosed in my said prior PatentNo. 2,202,442.

Thus, it is an important object of the present invention to provide animproved machine for manufacturing wire fabric of the chain link typewith which it is possible to fabricate the wire fabric quicker than ispossible with existing machines, whereby the daily production of fabricunder similar conditions is increased.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved gear boxwhich enables the former bar to be rotated at relatively high speed toform the wire fabric (a speed in the order of 600 R. P. M. beingpossible) and commence to rotate quickly at such speed from a slow startposition.

Further objects and advantages of the invention residing in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of parts will appear clearfrom consideration of the following description with reference to theaccompanying drawings and from the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a part sectional plan view of a gear box embodying thefeatures of this invention,

Fig. 2 is a section on the line II-II of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view, and

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line IV-IV of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral indicates a casingstructure in which there are mounted the main central drive shaft 12,the weaving spindle 14 and the single revolution shaft 16.

Shaft 12 is connected to be driven from an outside motor (not shown)through a clutch (also not shown). andis rotatably mounted in the casingby bearings 18. Mounted upon the shaft 12 are a clutch 20, a large sizegear-.22, a small size gear 24 and a pinion 26. Clutch 20 is a frictionclutch and has its inner axially adjustablepart 20' keyed to the shaft12, whereas its outer shell (indicated at 20) carries the large sizegear 22 and is free to rotate, together with gear 22, relatively to theshaft. Gear 24 and pinion 26 are keyed to or rigid with the shaft. I

. The weaving spindle 14 is rotatably mounted in casing 10 by bearings28 and 30, bearing 30 being conveniently provided by a Formsprag clutchadapted to provide a rotatable support for the spindle 14 and at thesame time to prevent reverse rotation of the spindle. Mounted on spindle14 there are a roller-cam clutch 32, gear 34, overrun clutch 36, gear 38and worm 40. Clutch 32 is of known construction and involves an innercam faced plate keyed to rotate with the shaft 14 and adapted to causeroller elements within the clutch casing to have wedged drivingengagement between the casing and plate, or vice-versa. Dogs 42, 42' onthe clutch casing are actuatable to engage and disengage the clutch 32.Gear 34 is in mesh with gear 22 and gear 38 is in mesh with gear 24.

Shaft 16 is rotatably mounted in casing 10 by bearings 44 and carriescollar 46 with a radial finger 48, bevel gear 50, clutch 52 and gear 54.Collar 46 is mounted to rotate with shaft 16, as also is bevel gear 50,but clutch 52 and gear 54 are, both of which are connected as a unit,capable of being connected, as in the case of roller-cam clutch 32, torotate with or relatively to shaft 16. Radial finger 56 on the casing ofclutch 52 is operable, in a manner to be described later, to engage anddisengage clutch 52.

Worm on the weaving spindle 14 is in engagement with a worm wheel 58(seen in dotted lines in Fig. 1)

which worm wheel is secured upon a shaft 60 rotatably mounted upon thecasing and carrying a bevel gear 62 in mesh with a bevel gear 64 onanother shaft 66 upon which there is secured a chain sprocket wheel 68.A chain 70 engages said sprocket wheel and a companion sprocket wheel 72rotatably mounted upon a pillar 74. The construction and operation ofthe chain 70 is substantially as disclosed in my said U. S. Patent No.2,202,- 442 but in addition to having the lug 76 (equivalent to lug 32in said patent) is also fitted with a second lug 78. Lug 78 is fitted onone side of the chain and lies in the path of the free end of arm 80 ofa two-arm lever keyed to one end of a shaft 82 upon the outside of thecasing 10 and having its other arm formed as a handle 84. An angularlyadjustable multi-pin coupling 86 is axially slidable but keyed to shaft66 and serves to couple the sprocket wheel 68 to shaft 66 in a desiredangular relation having respect to the number of links in the chain.

Clutch 20, 20 is actuated through the medium of yoke arms 88 keyed uponthe shaft 82, which shaft is mounted within the casing for oscillatorymotion under the control of finger 92 on a collar 94 rigid with bevelgear 96 and actuation of the lever arm 80 by the chain lug 78.

Bevel gear 96, which is in mesh with bevel wheel 50, is secured upon ashaft to which eccentrics 98 are secured for actuating bars 100 and 102adapted to operate upon the opposite end of the fabric as this isformed, and as is disclosed in my said prior patent. Shaft 82 carries anarm 104 provided with a roller 106 with which finger 92 engages to swingshaft 82 in the direction in which yoke arms 88 are moved to positivelyengage clutch 20, 20'. 1

Referring to Figures 2 and 4, a bell crank 108 having two arms 108a and108b is pivotally mounted by a shaft 110 in a bearing 110a within thecasing 10. The arm 108b projects through a large aperture a in thecasing and is formed with an aperture 108a which is adapted to act as asliding bearing for a rod 112. The rod 112 extends well outside thecasing and carries an adjustable collar 114 which lies within the pathof the chain lug 76. At the end which lies within the casing, the rod112 is connected for universal movement to an arm 116 of a Y-shapedlever, the pivotal axis of which is indicated at 118; the other two arms120 and 122 of the lever operate in the manner of rocker arms. The arm108a of'the bell crank 108 is pivotally connected to one end of a bar124 which is guided for sliding motion within the casing upon rollers126. The bar 124 has an upstanding portion 130 adjacent the end which isconnected to the bell crank and another upstanding portion 128 at theother end. The upstanding portion 128 lies in the path of finger 48,while the upstanding portion 130 forms a mounting for one end of abolt'l32 which forms a guide for a coil spring 134.

Axle 118, as seen in Fig. 3, extends to the outside of the casing and issecured to a rocker arm 136 which is on the outside of the casing andhas its lower end pivotally connected with a rod 138 mounted for slidingmotion upon an outside bracket 140 and spring biased by spring 142.

In Fig. 1 the gear 26 on the main drive shaft 12 is shown engaged withgear 54 on the single revolution shaft 16 through the medium of a pinion144.

In operation and considering the machine at rest, upon main drive shaft12 being set into motion pinion 24 will rotate gear 38, clutch 36, gear34 and the outer casing of clutch 32. At this moment gear 22 and clutchcasing will also rotate idly and gear 38, acting through the clutch 36,will drive shaft 14 at a slow speed. Dur-' ing this time worm 40 willoperate through its associated gears and shafts to set the chain 70 intomotion. Upon chain lug 76 arriving at the collar 114, rod 112 will bepulled out with attendant rocking of arms 116 and 122 to move the outerend of arm 122 into the path of dog 42 as shown in Fig. 1. At the sametime the free end of arm 120 is rocked out of the path of finger'56.This causes clutch 32 to be arrested against rotation and positivelystops weaving spindle 14 in a set predetermined position. With clutch 32temporarily held against rotation, gear 26 through pinion 144 rotatesgear 54, which in turn rotates clutch 52 together with the singlerevolution shaft 16, and bevel gears 50 and 96. During one revolution ofshaft 16 finger 92 hits against roller 106 to rock lever arm 104 andhence shaft 82, the etfect of which is to cause yoke arms 88to move andpositively engage clutch 20, 20'. When this occurs gear 22 positivelydrivesonto gear 34 with a high gear ratio'and overruns the stillrotating clutch 36 to thereby take over the rotation of the weavingspindle through clutch 32 at high speed. With the'spindle operating athigh speed,

continued movement of the chain 70 will bring lug 78 against the end ofarm 80 to thereby rock shaft 82 in the opposite direction and positivelydisengage the high speed clutch 20, 20. Rotation of weaving spindle 14will then proceed at slow speed through the low ratio gears 24, 38 andthe clutch 36, which is now not in a condition of overrun. When shaft 16approaches the end of one complete revolution finger 48 will hit againstprojection 128 on bar 124 and push this bar to the right, as seen inFig. 2, against the action of spring 132. This movement of bar 124 rocksbell-crank 108 to release the collar 114 on rod 112 from the path ofchain lug 76; This movement of the bell-crank is attendant with movementof arm 120 into'the path of finger 56 on the clutch 52 of the onerevolution shaft at the same time as arm 122 is moved out of the-path ofdog 42', thereby permitting the spindle 14 to recommence rotation atslow speed. After finger 48 has acted against bar 28butbefore finger 56contacts the raised arm 120' the single revolution shaft 16, throughbevel gears 50 and 96, will bring finger 92 into action-to rock arm 104and shaft 82 into position in which clutch 20, 28' is again positivelyengaged for high speed rotation of spindle 14.

I claim:

1. A wire fabric machine comprising a main drive shaft, a weavingspindle, an overrunning clutch having a driven and a driving element,the driven element being connected to the spindle, a low-speedtransmission connecting the shaft to the driving element of the clutch,a highspeed transmission connecting the shaft to the driven element ofthe clutch, the high-speed transmission and the low speed transmissionbeing connected to the spindle through a roller-cam clutch, and meansfor causing the high-speed transmission to transmit power after theweaving spindle has been driven by the low-speed transmission for apredetermined period of time.

2. A wire fabric machine comprising a main drive shaft, a weavingspindle, an overrunning clutch having a driven and a driving element, alow-speed transmission connecting the shaft to the driving element ofthe clutch, a high-speed transmission connecting the shaft to the drivenelement'of the clutch, a roller-cam clutch connecting the drivingelement of the overrunning clutch to the spindle, and control apparatusdriven by the spindle for causingv the high-speed transmission totransmit power after the weaving spindle has been driven by the lowspeedtransmission for a predetermined number of revolutions.

3. A wire fabric machine comprising a main drive shaft, a weavingspindle, an overrunning clutch having a driven and a driving element, alow-speed transmission connecting the shaft to the driving element ofthe clutch,

a high-speed transmission connecting the shaft to the v driven elementof the clutch, the high-speed transmission including a friction clutch,a roller-cam clutch connecting the driven element of the overrunningclutch to the spindle, and means for causing the friction clutch totransmit power after the weaving spindle has been driven by thelow-speed transmission for a predetermined period of time.

4. A wire fabric machine comprising a main drive shaft, a weavingspindle, a unidirectional clutch connected to the spindle, anoverrunning clutch having a driven and a driving element, the drivenelement being connected to the unidirectional clutch, a low-speedtransmission connecting the shaft directly to the driving element of theoverrunning clutch, a high-speed transmission connecting the shaft tothe driven element of the overrunning clutch, the high-speedtransmission including a friction clutch, the unidirectional clutchconnecting the driven element of the overrunning clutch to the spindle,and means for causing the friction clutch to transmit power after theweaving spindle has been driven by the low-speed transmission for apredetermined period of time.

5. A wire fabric machine comprising a main drive shaft, a weavingspindle, a sensitive unidirectional clutch connected to the spindle, anoverrunning clutch having a driven and a. driving element, the drivenelement being connected to the unidirectional clutch, a low-speedtransmission connecting the shaft directly to the driving element of theoverrunning clutch, a high-speed transmission connecting the shaft tothe driven element of the overrunning clutch, the high-speedtransmission including a friction clutch, and control apparatus drivenby the spindle for causing the friction clutch to transmit power afterthe weaving spindle has been driven by the low-speed transmission for apredetermined number of revolutions.

Harney Nov. 15, 1932 Mog'et al. Jan. 30, 1945

